T HAT the competition of the railway companies in road haulage
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can he a very serious matter for the haulier is well realized—there is the history of the canals to show that the railways are ruthless competitors. We give both sides of the ease in this issue, and we think that reliance may be placed upon a careful presentation of the case of the hauliers before the committee appointed by the Ministry of Transport to inquire into . the matter.
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THE combination of the motorvan and shop is not a new idea, but we believe our article on the subject will allow that the. man who takes the footwear in which he trades bymotor to the market place is, at least, sufficiently enterprising to deserve success. The motor can do what the horsed vehicle cannot do, namely, rim in an hour from the place where there is a lack of business to one 20 miles off, where people have foregathered with intent to buy. [Page '876.
A FUEL ccnsumption of-a gallon per 25 miles on a Ford one tonner and per 35 miles on a Ford van is well worth attaining. We describe a new economizer (suitable for all makes, but at once available for Fords) in the invention of which Mr. A. A. Remington, past president of the Institution of Automobile Engineers, and one of Britain's most famous designers, has played a big part. * [Page 891. * * . * * . QUICK loading and unloading, of lorries is now desirable, otherwise only half the work has been done in the saving of time possible by reason of the displacement of horses by motors. A constant stream of expensive trucks between warehouse and vehicle would be costly, but a number of cheap platforms moved by means of a single truck can do the work cheaply and effectively, as is shown in an article dealing with the subject. [Page 891.
THE quick tipping of loads is a desideratum, and, in the case of the Lacre tipping gear described in this issue, the speed of operation has been accelerated to such an extent that the time occupied is only about one-half of that occupie4 by many other systems.
• AMBULANCE bodies are being subjected to improvement as the outcome of war experience, and we describe an interesting vehicle produced recently by Crossley-Motors, Ltd. * [Page 873. * * THE development of road travel in this country is enormous, as an article on the" Red" motor services organized by the Midland Motor Bus Co., Ltd., will demonstrate. [Page 885.
MANY of our fire-fighting appliances have until recent years been built by a concern of German origin. An article in this issue shows that we have succeeded in getting the industry into our own hands.
Sensationalism and the Motor Coach.
HOW THE dailies do love sensationalism i One, ' the other afternoon, came out with a highly . spiced account of a scheme for the development of the motor coach services out ofiondoin which was to involve 200 vehicles, a capital outlay of 400,000, a big central station, and so forth ; and, a few days later, one of the leading journals devoted an Editorial to the evils attaching to the scheme (although, in the meantime, the accuracy of the first published account had been denied—a brief pan,graph in the last issue of The Commercial Motor said that the account was quite inaccurate).
The tirade in 'question describes as "frankly impossible" the operation from a terminus in High Holborn of a fleet of 200 motor coaches, each carrying 20 or 30 passengers and over a ton of luggage, and proceeds to deal with the road congestion that must result. The true facts of the case are that the three vehicles with which the services were operated last year may, this year, be increased to seven, carrying,' all told, less than 200 passengers. Apparently, in tho mind of the reporter on the daily paper, there is no difference that one need to worry, over between 200 passe.ngers. and 200 coaches. And yet a moment's thought would have convinced the newspaper man that 200 medium-sized coaches would accommodate four battalions! he most popular centre in the United Kingdom with an extensive service of its own to deal with local demand, and with a great and constant inward and outward flow of chars-h-banes, spread throughout the day, deals daily in the height of the season with not more than 150 vehicles. Yet, according to our dailies, a much vaster volume of char-ii-bancs traffic must be handled in High Holborn in a brief period of time, say, half an hour in each morning, afternoon, and evening. The proposition has only to be stated for its foolishness to became apparent.
. Even so, the motor coach will grow in popularity, for, as has been said before in these columns, it is the touring and travel vehicle of the third-class passenger and, even if 200 coaches passed through London streets in a day, they would entail less road wear than the running of. 20 buses. And, if a central station were erected to deal with "the traffic, the patrons of the motor coach would appreciate the benefits which it afforded and wouldabe quite entitled to demand that such a development should be encouraged and supported.
Expediting Load'ng and Unloading.
THE EFFICIENCY of a road transport system depends, to a great extent, upon the ratio between the average time occupied by loading or unloading and the average time that the vehicles coMprising the fleet can be kept moving on the road.
With the return to competitive methods of business, in lieu of controlled prices, all waste must be,. so far as possible, eliminated, and it is important to get every ounce of work out of the transport vehicles. Efficiency cannot be obtained if there are considerable terminal delays. Every commercial • motor vehicle represents an investment of capital, whilst the driver and his mate (where one is employed) represent a constant drain upon the wages account which is only justified if the men do a fair day's work. The vehicle itself can be considered as a dividend earner only when it is loaded and on the road ; when delayed and when running light, it can be considered as so much capital lying idles-sa fact which is not 'fully appreciated by all users of commercial motor vehicles.
All this,points to the need for most careful organization;snot only in the transport department, but also in the departments devoted to despatching and receiving. The actual loading or unloading of a vehicle should he reduced to a matter of minutes, particularly where large quantities of goods have to be handled. In cases where certain distinct classes of goods are dealt with and there are4several loading or unloading bays, the goods should be so allocated that any particular class will be handled at a certain bay, which the drivers will soon become accustomedto associate with the goods in question. Much time may be lost during delivery by loading a vehicle in an indiscriminate fashion,. so that goods which call for early delivery are inconveniently stacked on the vehicle behind others less important. This can easily be avoided by taking note of the round to be made by the vehicle and stacking the goods on the bay in the correct order of delivery the last for delivery to be loaded first.
In an article entitled "Loading and Unloading the Lorry," which appears elsewhere in this issue, we refer to a hydraulic truck which can be used conveniently in many cases„ in order to facilitate and speed up the handling of many types of goods. This is an excellent method, but there are several others, such as the Lancashire Flat and similar devices which also deserve the fullest consideration.
Using Duty-free Chassis for Passenger Work.
ASERIOUS warning needs to be issued to users of imported chassis suitable for commercial vehicle or public passenger uses. It is absolutely necessary, when purchasing such a chassis (with or without a body), either first or second-hand, to ascertain, exactly what has happened concerning the payment of the import duty of 331 per cent. ad valorem, and the recovery of the rebate thereon in respect of -the use of the chassis as a goods vehicle.
On the importation of the vehicle, the Customs officials may be relied upon to secure the payment of the proper charges in respect of the chassis, but a second owner of the vehicle may, without giving' a: thought to the question of import duty, remove the, goods-earryine body fries a duty-free elhassis and replace it. witha passenger-carrying'body, and, thus, render himself liable to the duty and a heavy fine. The local Excise authorities are alive to the possibilities and, quite correctly, are watchful for any infringement of the law, and the hand of ii tee can be brought down heavily upon those who do infrinee. It should he clearly undeestreel that. sunent eev imported vehicle that has been fitted with a goods B14 carrying body be altered so that it can carry passengers, the right to the rebate is immediately cancelled, and the matter should be reported to the local Excise Office (the address of which can always be obtained -from a post office), when a demand will be received for the payment of the duty. The onus of passing on. to a subsequent purchaser of a duty free chassis, the information concerning the status of the vehicle lies with the seller, but the liability for the duty (and for any fine imposed) lies with the User. .
Economies Arising from Greater Efficiency.
AT THE first blush, the announcement to the effect that the London Fire Brigade has closed fifteen of its stations and that still more will be closed in the near future, does not appear to have much bearing on the subject of the economy of motor transport. The position is, however, quite altered when one learns that the reason for the closing of these stations is that owing to the rapidity with which motor fire-engines can reach the scene of action, it has become possible to concentrate the lire brigade's tieet at a much smaller number of points, • , The motor has not found its way into fire service on any grounds of economy in operation, but simply and solely because, owing to its speed capabilities, it is able to effect savings of life and property which would otherwise have been lost. From this standpoint, it represents an economy to the community as a whole, but not necessarily to the fire brigade itself. The employment of the most efficient possible means of checking the spread of fires must necessarily be reflected in the figures that are periodically compiled in the interests of insurance companies. If these companies find that, by reason of improved protection, fire risks are reduced, then their premiums in respect of those risks must presently be reduced accordingly. Thus, the motor fire-engine represents at least a small economy to every individual who has occasion to effect fire insurances. When all these small economies are added together, the saving to the entire community must be very considerable. Thepresent move, however, evidently represents an attempt to secure economy for the fire brigade itself. The greater centralization of the fleet must have the effect or saving eeste in respect of rent, rates, wages, and a score of other items. If this saving can be effected, as it evidently-can, without materially reducing the security given to the public, then the move is a commonsense one, .clearly representing the right policy. Without going into compasative figures, it is reasonable to suppose that a system which admits of a fairly high degree of centralization is practically certain to be more economical than the .old system, in which numerous local stations were necessary because the radius of action of each horsed maddne had to be regarded as very low, since, otherwise, the time spent on the journey to the. fire would be excessive.
We mention the matter, largely because it. forms an admirable example of the 'value of a time-s,aving system,. It serves to force home the point that we have made on more than one occasion, to the effect that traders may often save a. good deal of money by adopting motors and housing them at some comparatively outlying point where the land for a garage is reasonably cheap. Such a course would be impossible to a trader dependent on horsed vans. The journey from the stabling to the trading premises and the final return journey in the evening would represent too great a loss of time, as well as a positive reduction in the useful mileage that the horse could cover in the day. In the case of the motor, a similar journey means no reduction in useful working capacity and a comparatively small esspentliture of time morning and evening.